Some Northwest Cities Explore Ways To Keep Airport Control Towers Open

Control towers at 13 small to medium sized airports across the Northwest are slated for closure by mid-June.

Beth Redfield

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Some Northwest cities and counties are exploring whether to use local or private money to keep their airport control towers open. By mid-June, the federal government plans to close the control towers at 13 small to medium sized airports across the region.

Across-the-board budget cuts known as the 'sequester' have led the Federal Aviation Administration to cancel a contract for control tower staffing at smaller western airfields. Some of the affected airports -- such as one near Sun Valley, Idaho, and another in Renton, Washington -- are threatening to sue to stop the move. Other communities are scrounging for local dollars to keep their control towers open at least part-time.

Pierce County, Washington airport and ferry manager Deb Wallace is researching how much it would cost to hire controllers for busy summer weekends at Tacoma Narrows Airport.

"We will be exploring the opportunity to actually receive sponsorship," Wallace says. "I think there may be a business opportunity for sponsorship by different companies to provide this service."

In Idaho Falls, the manager of the city-operated airport has offered to shift money from the maintenance budget -- at least for the short term -- to keep the control tower open.

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According to an airport industry association, control towers at 14 small to medium sized airports around the Northwest will close on April 1 in response to automatic federal budget cuts: Four in Idaho and five each in Oregon and Washington. But regional airlines intend to keep flying to those cities they now serve.